Daphne's Everyday Adventures
by crazysockmonkeys
Summary: Daphne goes to the mall with David to buy Niles a birthday present. One-shot for xfilesfanatic.


**Author's note: This is a birthday story for xfilesfanatic, and I'm so sorry that it's this late! Thank you for being such a great friend all the time and for always taking the time to read and review my stories. I thank God for your friendship! **

**I know there are others of you with birthdays I need to write for, and I haven't forgotten! Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"Where are the two of you headed off to?" Asked Niles as Daphne headed towards the door, David on her hip. She closed her eyes for a minute, silently chastising herself for making so much noise. It had been her hope that Niles would stay asleep on his day off, but she knew better than anyone that Niles Crane was an early riser.<p>

"To the mall."

"The mall?" He approached them slowly. "Why on earth would—"

"Don't worry," she laughed, "we're going to the good one."

"Is there such a thing?"

Daphne half-glared, half-smiled. "Yes. We should be back before lunchtime."

"Hmm," Niles began, putting on a playful grin. "I do wonder why my wife would be heading to some mall this early on a Saturday morning without telling me…"

"My, aren't you talkative this morning? We've got to go."

"Before giving me a kiss?"

"Of course not." She kissed him lightly on the lips, and Niles tousled his young son's hair.

"Daddy," said David.

"Have fun with your mother," Niles told him with a smile and a kiss. "Do make sure she doesn't buy anything too gaudy at this so-called 'good mall'…"

"Niles!" She laughed, shoving him. "Goodbye!"

He laughed after her as she closed the door.

* * *

><p>When Daphne and David arrived at the mall, she decided to pay for valet parking, wary of the huge parking lot. She still hadn't gotten use to the every day indulgences of being well off. She didn't lie to Niles; this truly was the nicest mall in the area and contained more high-end stores than she could count. When she had been single she had visited it a few times here and there, laughing at the snobby rich people who looked so much like her then-bosses when she had come with Roz and happily wishing when she had come alone. Now it was strange to think that she was paying to have some one park for her and was planning on actually buying something, a birthday gift for Niles, as he had apparently suspected.<p>

As she entered it she took a deep breath, feeling happy all of a sudden. Everything was clean, new, and shiny. She put David down to toddle beside her as they went along together, hand in hand.

They passed a toy store with a very large sock monkey in the window. "What's that, David?"

"Monkey," he said, enamored by it temporarily.

"Very good." They kept walking slowly along, hand in hand.

"Lady," David simply said, pointing to a very elegantly dressed mannequin in a store window.

She smiled at him. "Not quite. Say 'mannequin.'"

"Mankin."'

"What a smart boy." Not being able to resist, she picked him up again. He leaned his head on her shoulder, and Daphne relished the feeling, smelling the hair gel she had used that morning to part his blonde hair on the side. Of course, it meant having to wash it out later, but it made him look so cute.

Finally, they reached their destination, a very swanky shoe store with a name Daphne couldn't even begin to pronounce. When Niles said it, she always giggled because it took her breath away. She couldn't understand now how long it had taken her to realize how attractive he was.

He had indicated the exact type of shoe he had wanted, and she looked for it among the display shoes. The kind he had asked for were a very fancy type of leather with tassels, normal for Niles. It seemed to her that he continuously bought the same pair of shoes over and over again, but whatever made him happy, she supposed.

She finally found the pair he had pointed out to her in the catalog. Pleased with herself, she put David down and looked for his size. They didn't have it.

Sighing and giving a smile, she approached the cashier, hand-in-hand with David. After finding out that the store did not have Niles' size in the back and that a new order of them would not come in until Wednesday (Niles' birthday was on Monday), she sat down on a bench in the store, setting David down to walk.

She thought about what she might do. It was fall, she thought. Maybe she could get him a sweater, but she had no idea where she might begin to look for a good one. There were so many brands and fabrics that he absolutely detested that it would be near impossible for her to pick out the right one. Same thing went for books. He always wanted books on a certain psychological subject and never really seemed interested in any of the normal fiction novels she read.

Being married to Niles was definitely an adventure.

"Ma!" David suddenly announced as he pulled a shoebox to the floor. The lid came off and out stumbled one of the shoes. "Shoe," he added.

"David, no," she said. "Careful, sweetie." She put him on her lap and put the shoe back in the box, but not before taking a look at it. It was a lightly tanned leather oxford style shoe with laces, and Daphne liked the way it looked. When she imagined them on Niles she liked them better.

Taking a closer look, she thought Niles might actually like it as well. It was around the same price as the pair she had originally came for, and his size was in stock. Perhaps it was worth the risk. And, David had picked them out himself. She trusted Niles would be pleased.

After paying for them, she scooped David up and began to exit the mall. "Your Daddy will be proud," she said.

"Daddy," he said back.

Suddenly they were walking past a candy store, and Daphne paused for a moment. It was the kind of store Daphne had always dreamt of being in as a little girl, full of color and sugar and dreams. There were stuffed animals and toys in the window and pillars full of different kinds of sweets along the walls. David, she realized, had never gotten to experience one of these, and he was being such a good boy today.

"Would you like some candy?" She asked him.

"Candy," he replied.

"We just won't tell Daddy, okay?"

"Daddy."

"That's right."

Together they went in, and David reached out and grabbed many a colorful item. He said yes to every kind of candy she offered him, so she picked out the kinds that she thought he would like best and put them in a plastic bag, then took it up to the counter to have it weighed. Since it wasn't much, it wasn't expensive it all, and David walked out carrying his bag of candy, his prized possession.

Daphne found a bench for them to sit on and David ate his stash of gummy bears first, then a few M&Ms and finally a handful of jellybeans, all different flavors.

On the way out, she put David up on her shoulders and he rode there in peace, playing with her hair all the way to the car. He babbled on the trip home about this and that until they stepped in the door of their apartment.

Niles was sitting on the couch reading. "Don't look!" Daphne announced, hiding the bag with the shoebox behind her and setting David down.

"I would never dream of doing such a thing," he said with a smile. Daphne rushed up the stairs and put the bag behind a shelf on her side of the walk-in closet, then went back downstairs.

"So, how was your trip to the mall?" Niles asked.

"Perfect. You should know that David was the one who picked out your present."

"Really?" Niles picked him up, putting him on his lap.

"He made quite a stylish choice if I do say so myself," said Daphne.

"Of course he did. My son has more class in his smallest toe than in that entire mall! David, say, 'I walk with dignity.'"

"I wok wit dinity."

"Perfection! Our boy is a class act," said Niles.

Daphne laughed and leaned against his shoulder, breathing into his neck.

"You know I know that all malls are not gaudy," he whispered.

"I know, Niles."

"My Daphne enriches any place she walks into."

She smiled at him. "Thank you."

* * *

><p><strong>The End<strong>


End file.
